More Summer Blockbusters

[Clave Dark 5]

Has someone suggested this yet?  I will, again if need be. 

 

The whole idea of the SBB provides a great template that we could spin any number and type of stories off of. 

 

I like SBB a lot as a quick to play variant on the usual style of CoH play, something we don't have too much of, and I also appreciate it for being level-restricted, thus keeping players from hiding behind their T4 Incarnate purpled-out builds that allow them to snore their way through everything untouched (heck, were I in charge, I'd be looking at making more new content like that).  SBB is also great for earning some quick Inf when you're leveling up. 

 

How would this work?  I'm glad you asked - just like the old SBB!

 

• From the TF tab, there'd be the usual SBB1 (the classic) and then the new SBB2 (and SBB3, etc...)
• Same structure: a double feature of two stories to RP/fight your way thru.
• Same movie theater map when you zone in, where you can buy Insps, choose roles, Hospital to, etc.
• Same reward levels/structure (although making a new set of exclusive enhancers for each new double bill would be fun too).
• Each of the two new stories could fairly easily ape in structure (not genre) the original SBB stories, or you could work to come up with new forms/templates for them. 
• You could make a sequel!  Make a pirate movie!  Giant monster film!  Drawing room murder!  A City Of Heroes Musical!  I don't think we need any superhero movies though...

 

Heck, this might be a place to start investigating porting some of the best MA content over for (although I know that would require adapting, not just a click of a box and it's good to go).

[Vanden]

The current SBB has 4 movie theaters, but only two movies. The obvious thing to do is to add two more movies, and have the trial pick 2 at random for each run. It already sorta does this, but with only 2 movies to choose from the actual effect is you just run them in a random order.

 

We should talk about adding completely new SBB trials once the current one has a full list of features (pun intended).

[Clave Dark 5]

I'd not even noticed that before, that's a good point.  Add more, then add more again!

[tidge]

Obviously we need some "January Releases" of simply terrible movies.

[Clave Dark 5]

Some kind of slow and self-important "prestige" costume drama, a terrible rom-com... yeah, those would be fun roles for heroes to take!  😃

[Akisan]

On 2/14/2024 at 4:38 AM, tidge said:

Obviously we need some "January Releases" of simply terrible movies.

 

On 2/14/2024 at 6:17 PM, Clave Dark 5 said:

Some kind of slow and self-important "prestige" costume drama, a terrible rom-com... yeah, those would be fun roles for heroes to take!  😃

 

So... instead of SBB1, SBB2, etc., we could have BB for each season? WBB could be New Year themed (please include a bobsled/luge chase section), Spring could be Romance themed, Fall could be Horror themed?

[Player2]

Additional movie ideas:

• Stay Alive!, a horror movie that uses the Halloween haunted house map.  This one should be a panicked survival run through the end with nigh invulnerable ghouls and ghosts chasing you.  They either have impossibly high resists or regen or attack from phasing or different monsters with different abilities.  Player damage should be all but useless, but the monsters can still be stunned, held, immobilized, and repelled (to give you moments of respite to click glowies).  They stop when you get to the cemetery, but then something even more horrifying (a giant monster) appears.  The giant monster CAN be defeated but should be almost impossible... unless you pick up tools (four total, one for each player) on your way through the house.  Having one or more of these will debuff the giant monster the same way destroying the pylons in that TF with Lord Recluse.  If possible, having the giant monster spawned be kind of random like the end of the Halloween Banners Event would add a little more to the suspense because you don't know what's going to be there.
• Ghost Pirate Treasure Isle... it takes place on an island; just park the ghost ship a little ways off and have waves upon waves of ghost pirates attack while the players defend the treasure chest.  The pirates attempt to destroy it (looting it until it's empty).  Once the timer runs out and the treasure is successfully defended, the ghosts stop but the Ghost Pirate King EB spawns and you have to find and defeat him.
• Armageddon Soon is a thriller about mercenaries trying to launch a nuke at Paragon City.  Ideally, the heroes would have to fight their way through the missile complex in Warburg... if you could fence off a small area outside it and the whole of inside it.  This one could follow the old mainstay of needing the heroes get door keys to get to the heart of the complex.  Fun twist, the end of this movie can be preventing the nuke from being launched... and/or the players could decide to launch it themselves.  Players are awarded a different badge for whichever ending they choose.
• Jailbreak, an escape movie where the heroes play the roles of convicts attempting to break out of the Zig.  In their escape, they have to fight guards, maybe some other prisoners, a few lesser heroes (put Flambeaux and her friends in, I dare you)... but at the end you have to face off against one of the Freedom Phalanx.
• Love and Ninjas is a story about trying to facilitate the romance between two NPCs, one is a friend of the heroes and the other his/her true love.  Both of them are from rival ninja clans, however, and both clans are upset at trying to unite the two lovebirds.  This could be ideally a two-part escort mission as you attempt to get each to a specific location, then defend against one final assault from both clans at once.
• Okayfellas, an organized crime story featuring Family and Mooks and the protagonists caught in the middle.  Lots of gunplay in this one, perhaps some stolen loot that needs to be found and turned in to authorities upon which the rival mob factions have to stop attacking because they'll be under intense legal scrutiny for awhile.

[Clave Dark 5]

3 hours ago, Player2 said:

Additional movie ideas:

You're hired!  I expect these scripts on my desk Monday morning.

[Player2]

21 hours ago, Akisan said:

 

 

So... instead of SBB1, SBB2, etc., we could have BB for each season? WBB could be New Year themed (please include a bobsled/luge chase section), Spring could be Romance themed, Fall could be Horror themed?

 

Summer Blockbuster could be renamed as Seasonal Blockbuster.

 

• Summer stays the same.
• Fall can include the Stay Alive! and Ghost Pirate Treasure Isle movie I described above.
  • Both are perfect Halloween season themes.
• Winter could be Armageddon Soon and Okayfellas movies...
  • in Armageddon Soon, have talk about the coming nuclear winter come up in the dialogue.
  • Keep the mob theme in Okayfellas, but throw a holiday spin on it and the loot you're trying to find and return to the authorities is a Christmas present glowie... and there are several scattered about, so you have to search them all to find the right one while spoiling the surprise on various kids' gifts by unwrapping them early.  All the wrong presents have cool Freedom Phalanx action figures, some less than exciting one can include things like an autographed photo of Flambeaux, Icon brand socks & underwear, Sally and Lusca plushies, the new Fusionette-endorsed battery charger, assorted Crey products, etc. 
• and Spring could be Jailbreak and Love and Ninjas.
  • Jailbreak is a good analogy for breaking out of those winter blues with the protagonists trying to win their freedom.  Hooray springtime!
  • Love and Ninjas is your February romance movie... but with ninjas.

[Saiyajinzoningen]

shut up and take my money!

[Player2]

There are 10 Event badges associated with the Summer Blockbuster.

If it were to be broken up into 4 seasonal blockbusters, that could be 30 more badges!!

 

[Akisan]

4 minutes ago, Player2 said:

There are 10 Event badges associated with the Summer Blockbuster.

If it were to be broken up into 4 seasonal blockbusters, that could be 30 more badges!!

 

That would be a nice bonus there.  They'll eventually add enough badges that I can get Until the End of the World on my blue-only badger, but not gonna complain about it happening sooner.

 

On 2/16/2024 at 9:50 PM, Player2 said:

Keep the mob theme in Okayfellas, but throw a holiday spin on it and the loot you're trying to find and return to the authorities is a Christmas present glowie... and there are several scattered about, so you have to search them all to find the right one while spoiling the surprise on various kids' gifts by unwrapping them early.  All the wrong presents have cool Freedom Phalanx action figures, some less than exciting one can include things like an autographed photo of Flambeaux, Icon brand socks & underwear, Sally and Lusca plushies, the new Fusionette-endorsed battery charger, assorted Crey products, etc. 

 

Why am I suddenly reminded of Jingle All the Way? (that'd probably be fun to reference in Okayfellas too, now that I think about it)

[Player2]

2 minutes ago, Akisan said:

 

Why am I suddenly reminded of Jingle All the Way? 

 

In a city of superheroes, I'm sure they have PR agents and probably licensed their likenesses for toys, T-shirts, and other merch to inspire all the good boys and girls, as well as fans, collectors, and other grown up nerds.  Just because superheroes are real in their world doesn't mean kids wouldn't want them in toy form.  Hell, it might make the idea more desirable.  I'll bet Lord Recluse gets a steady shipment of Freedom Phalanx action figures just so he can smash them on his desk when he's irritated.  Everyone needs a hobby.

[Akisan]

29 minutes ago, Player2 said:

I'll bet Lord Recluse gets a steady shipment of Freedom Phalanx action figures just so he can smash them on his desk when he's irritated.  Everyone needs a hobby.

 

Just action figures?  I wouldn't put it past him to order Freedom Phalanx shaped doggy chew toys that he can throw to the Arachnoids when he gets really irritated. (assuming he doesn't just take it out by shredding one of several Phalanx-inspired training dummies in his personal gym/training room)

[Player2]

Just now, Akisan said:

 

Just action figures?  I wouldn't put it past him to order Freedom Phalanx shaped doggy chew toys that he can throw to the Arachnoids when he gets really irritated. (assuming he doesn't just take it out by shredding one of several Phalanx-inspired training dummies in his personal gym/training room)

I imagine a drawer full of the toys, so he can smash whatever's on his desk... brush it away, pull out another and leave it there until the urge to lash out occurs but he doesn't want to walk to the gym because he's too busy with Arachnos administrative paperwork.  The training dummies will be for later when work is done or when he needs a bigger aggro vent.

[Akisan]

OMG the mental image of Recluse at his desk, wearing spectacles while he signs forms... occasionally taking a sip of the (in)famous Grandville coffee that Arbiter Sands keeps hyping up...

[Player2]

8 minutes ago, Akisan said:

OMG the mental image of Recluse at his desk, wearing spectacles while he signs forms... occasionally taking a sip of the (in)famous Grandville coffee that Arbiter Sands keeps hyping up...

That sounds like a possible AE mission arc.  Recluse just wants to have a cup of coffee, but work and heroes keep interrupting him.

 

Final mission in the arc is a destroy object, and it's a coffee maker...  because add insult to injury by intentionally depriving him of the coffee just because.

 

Edited February 19 by Player2

[Rudra]

3 hours ago, Player2 said:

In a city of superheroes, I'm sure they have PR agents and probably licensed their likenesses for toys, T-shirts, and other merch to inspire all the good boys and girls, as well as fans, collectors, and other grown up nerds.  Just because superheroes are real in their world doesn't mean kids wouldn't want them in toy form.  Hell, it might make the idea more desirable.  I'll bet Lord Recluse gets a steady shipment of Freedom Phalanx action figures just so he can smash them on his desk when he's irritated.  Everyone needs a hobby.

That actually gets brought up in some superhero cartoons and comics. Such as an episode in Justice League where Superman and the rest of the League are upset that Flash did commercials and now people are associating the commercial's products with the League. Or another cartoon where action figures, t-shirts, and other merchandise were being sold from the super in question, sometimes with their approval (and fees for sales) and other times against their will (requiring action to be taken to get the vendor to stop).

[Random Robot]

Quote

[NPC] Blood Brother Slugger: This better be worth it.  Last time we broke in, all we found was Synapse dolls.

 

It's canon. 🙂

[Clave Dark 5]

Considering the way things are going for superhero films at the box office, one of those badges had better be something like

 

Hollywood Bomb

Maybe the budget was too small, or the script was never satisfactorily smoothed out, or the editing changes made things too convoluted, or maybe it was just everything, but critics and audiences agree, this movie was terrible and your name is now a joke online.

[Player2]

45 minutes ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

Hollywood Bomb

Maybe the budget was too small, or the script was never satisfactorily smoothed out, or the editing changes made things too convoluted, or maybe it was just everything, but critics and audiences agree, this movie was terrible and your name is now a joke online.

 

Attach that one to the Apocalypse Soon script... because double meaning.  There's a bomb in it and the film bombs at the box office if you don't get the good ending.